


Craving Burning Lotós: Torao-hen

by ShionsTear



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Promare, Collaboration, Drama, High School Trio, Humor, M/M, Promare (2019) Spoilers, Racism, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, but no retelling, just set in the same universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23578129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShionsTear/pseuds/ShionsTear
Summary: “You should take me on a ride. I could give you a private concert… just kidding.”“Sure, I’ll take you somewhere someday."But that promising day seemed so far away, it might as well have never come.
Relationships: Midou Torao/Natsume Minami
Comments: 15
Kudos: 12





	Craving Burning Lotós: Torao-hen

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Craving Burning Lotós: Minami-hen](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579509) by [einsKai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/einsKai/pseuds/einsKai). 



“Chii.” 

“Pon.” 

“Pon.”

“…hmm, pon.”

“…tsumo!”

“Damn, a yakuman!”

“What are the four of you doing?”

“Ah, Iori-chan! We’re playing mahjong. Torao-chan did a yakuman.”

“Is that so, Sunohara-san?” Iori sighed, carrying some files under his arm. It was already night out and while his other firefighter comrades were enjoying some rounds of mahjong, huddled around the short coffee table and sitting on the floor, he had decided to continue with paperwork for a while.

“This is gonna be an easy win.” Torao laughed as he announced his hand.

“ _OH_ , I will not go down without a battle first.”

“Ha, try if you can, Nagi!”

“Want to play a round too?” the fourth player asked.

“No, thank you, Inumaru-san.” Iori declined politely. “Do you even know how to play mahjong? As far as I know it is quite complex with a wide range of rules and it demands to put a lot of thought into one’s strategy. Are you sure you are not merely playing with words that sound amusing?” he raised an eyebrow in doubt.

“Tora and Momo know, right?” Touma looked around and the two nodded in response. “I’m just playing ‘cause it looked fun.” he smiled.

“Of course.” Iori sighed. “And how do _you_ intend to beat him then, Rokuya-san?”

“Well you see, I have watched an anime about mahjong. I’m an _expert_ now.”

“…of course.” Iori sighed again.

“What’re you doing at this hour anyways? Take a break already.” Torao suggested.

“Thank you for your concern, Midou-san, but I am very well capable of looking after myself. I only wanted to read through these reports of last week’s incidents.”

“Where?”

“What do you mean where?”

“Where are you gonna read ‘em?”

“At my desk, obviously.”

“Come on, sit on the couch and tell us what they say.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re gonna tell us tomorrow anyways, so tell us now and talk to us.”

“…” he thought Torao’s suggestions was nothing short of unreasonable, but at the same time he also understood that it was his way of trying to help. Iori had been working at that firefighter station for some years already, he had gotten used to it. “Very well.” he gave in and smiled.

“Nice.”

“Pon!” Touma exclaimed. “I think!”

“Ah, dammit.” Torao focused on the game in front of him again. Iori approached the couch next to them and sat down. He opened the folder with the files and started reading through them.

“Anything interesting, Iori-chan?” Momo asked, scanning the board for useful tiles. “Ah, pon!”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a slight rise in Burnish activity it seems, but it is not noteworthy. Fluctuations like those happened in the past as well.”

“Nothing grave?”

“Negative. No large damage to any buildings in Shotokyo. And---“

“No! I meant if nothing grave happened to any of the Burnish!”

“Ah, I see. Sorry that I misunderstood, but there is nothing to worry. Nothing to report on that end as well.”

“Phew, good.” Momo sighed in relief.

“It’s such a shame whenever something happens to them, isn’t it? It’s not like they can help it, right?” Touma asked.

“ _Yes_ , they are people just like us. It is wrong to treat them differently just because they happen to be Burnish.” Nagi nodded, a very intense expression on his face while staring at the board in front of him.

It had been 30 years since the Great World Burn occurred and left half of the world in literal ashes. The state of Japan had seen many casualties as well but after many years of struggling managed to rebuild its capital into one of the most progressive cities. As a symbol to never forget what happened and as some sort of charm, the new capital was named Shotokyo, the Extinguished Tokyo.

As to not repeat the tragedy from the past, the new government implemented strict rules against the Burnish: people who, as a result of mutation, had the power to freely manipulate fire. As a result, they became an oppressed minority in Shotokyo, of which most struggled to survive day by day.

Torao and the others worked as firefighters, the Burning Rescue, to act whenever there was a fire or even just the possibility of a fire spreading. And even though they came in contact with Burnish more frequently than the ordinary citizen, or maybe precisely due to that, they were secretly against the government’s way of actions. The Burnish were humans like them and everyone else and deserved to have the same rights.

“Pon!” Nagi looked confident.

“Pon.” Torao added.

“Chii!” Momo joined them. Iori peeked at the board and poked Touma’s back with his foot. The redhead turned around and saw how Iori moved his eyes to the left a few times. Confused, Touma turned around again and looked to the side as well and widened his eyes. He grabbed a tile and pulled it towards him.

“Uhh… the thing Tora said before!”

“Tsumo.” Iori said.

“That!”

“Wha!? How did you notice that?” Torao turned to him in disbelief.

“L-Lucky?”

“ _Nooo_ , I was so close myself!!” he put his head on the table.

“Don’t mind, Nagi-chan.” Momo patted his shoulder and started laughing.

“I see you’re having a good time, yes?” a voice said, coming from behind the couch. Iori jumped up in surprise.

“Captain Kujou! Is something the matter?”

“Indeed. Though I don’t like to interrupt your mahjong time.”

“What happened, Tenn-chan?”

“We received a call from a worried landlord. They said one of their tenants is a Burnish and started a fire inside of the apartment. He requests Burning Rescue’s assistance immediately.” he explained.

“Oh no, I hope it’s nothing serious.”

“Well whatever, now I’m losing anyways.” Torao stood up and stretched his arms. “I’ll go.”

“I will accompany you, Midou-san.”

“Nice. Let’s take my bike, that’s faster.” he grinned.

“Understood, I will go get ready.” Iori nodded and rushed away.

“Thank you, Torao. And I’m sorry for sending you out this late.” Tenn apologised.

“No worries, we’re the heroes of the city! Helping people in need is our job!”

“…you’re right.” Tenn smiled. “Alright. You know the procedures.”

“Yeah.”

“And please drive safely, I’ll await your report. If something happens let us know.”

“Will do.”

“Good.” he nodded and approached the mahjong players. “Mind if I take his spot?”

“Not at all!” Touma nodded.

“ _Captain_ , I will show no _mercy_ , even if it’s you.” Nagi glared at Tenn.

“Heh? Let’s see you try then. I’ll have you know that my grandfather was a professional player and taught me everything he knew.”

“… _oh no_.” Nagi shivered.

“Midou-san, I am ready, let us depart.”

“’Kay, see ya!” he said and the two left the room. They walked to the bike, got on it and Torao started driving to where the call had come from; Iori was guiding him while riding on the back.

After a short 15 minutes ride they arrived at their destination. They got off the bike and rang the landlord’s bell. He came out seeming visibly nervous. For some reason, Torao already didn’t like him. He showed the two firefighters up the stairs and asked them if they were prepared.

“Prepared for what?” Torao asked.

“Wh-what if they attack us!?”

“Why should they? We’re just here to check what’s going on. And if anything happens, I have my weapon.” he said and put a hand to the katana attached to his belt.

“Sir, please stay reassured. We will assess the situation with care.” Iori added.

“You better do, that’s what you get paid for!”

“…” Torao glared at him, passed him and walked up the stairs. “Third floor, right?”

“Y-yes, but… wait!” the landlord seemed to have trouble climbing the stairs.

“Midou-san.” Iori followed right after him.

“I can’t stand that dude.” he whispered

“He is… rather difficult, I must agree. But our priority is to---“

“I know.”

“Alright.”

They arrived and stopped in front of the door to the apartment in question.

“They’re in here, sir!” the landlord gasped. “Oh lord! They’re gonna burn down my place! My beautiful apartments… I can’t bear it anymore! Please extinguish the fire!”

“How’d you know there’s a fire in there? I sure can’t see any?” Torao crossed his arms.

“I… I saw it through the window, y-yes.”

“Hmm…” he was sceptic. Iori approached the door and rang the bell, but nothing resounded. Torao stepped closer and tried to peer through the spyhole but he couldn’t see anything. “The doorbell isn’t working.” he said, standing right in front of the door.

“Yes, they didn’t pay their damn electricity bill. Damn Burnish and their entitlement. _I’m_ not gonna pay for their expenses.”

Torao turned to Iori and received a nod in response. Without any further ado, he raised his right arm and banged against the door.

After a short while of silence, the door opened.

“Whoa, sorry.” Torao quickly took some steps backwards. A fair-haired man looked up to him with a somewhat nervous expression, he thought to himself. He didn’t look like someone to burn down an apartment, but he had procedures that needed to be followed. “Good evening.”

“Good evening.” the man answered. “How can I help…?”

“This is him! The criminal! Arrest him, he started a fire in my house!” the landlord huffed like a fire spitting dragon. Torao kept his cool and turned back to the man in the doorframe. His posture made him look afraid, vulnerable even. Why wouldn’t it, Torao thought, being in such a situation. He hoped that it was a false alarm and they would leave quickly again.

“Good evening, sir.” Iori said. “We have received a call from the landlord that a fire has been sighted inside of your apartment. I know it is late and we excuse the trouble, but would it be possible for us to check inside? If it happens to be a false alarm we shall excuse ourselves quickly again.” he explained calmly.

“As you can see there is no fire in this apartment.” the resident said. “Or do you see any smoke or flames?”

“While that might be true for what we can see from here, we would need to enter and check. Please?” he continued.

“My roommates are sleeping.” the man said as he stepped aside. “Please use caution as to not wake them. They both have work tomorrow morning.”

“Understood.” Iori nodded, lowering his voice.

“Pardon the intrusion.” Torao whispered as well as he stepped inside. He grabbed the flashlight from his belt and started looking around. He passed by a room with a closed door, inferred that it was the room with the sleeping roommates and decided to ignore it. He entered the kitchen and stopped in the middle of the room.

Iori followed closely behind and positioned himself next to his colleague.

“Did you see anything, Midou-san?”

“Nope.” he said but sniffed the air. Smoke. He started thinking about what to do next, but came to a quick conclusion. “Well, I don’t see any fire in here, Mister Landlord.” he turned around and crossed his arms.

“Oh! But don’t you smell this?” the landlord said and sniffed as well, as if to copy Torao. “I can smell it…” he started moving around the room and approached a set of drawers. “Right over here!” his hands pointing at one of the drawers.

“Well…” Torao shrugged. “Not everyone’s a master chef. Food can get burned.” he said, but the landlord didn’t seem to back down from the drawer.

“Hah…” Iori sighed silently. He stepped closer to the landlord and put his hand on the handle. “May I?” he turned to the resident of the apartment.

“Do you not need a search warrant to rummage through my personal belongings?” the resident asked, trying to avoid opening it.

“Hogwash!” the landlord snorted annoyed. “No search warrants are needed for you lot. I looked that up!”

“I am afraid he is right. We are legally allowed to if there is a possibility for a fire hazard. You may find the official statement on the government’s website. Please excuse me, I will open the drawer now.” he did as he said and slowly pulled it open.

Torao pointed the flashlight into the drawer and illuminated its insides for everyone present.

“I knew it!!” the landlord yelled.

“Keep it down!” Torao retorted as silently as he could. “Hah…”

“Candles.” Iori noted. “And it seems one of them has been lit recently.”

“So I can evict them now, right!?” the landlord yelled and nearly spit. Torao was disgusted and peeked at Iori, but that one kept his professional calmness, as always. He was glad that he didn’t come on his own, who knows what he had done then. “I can finally throw these dirty fire-rats out of my building?”

Torao closed his eyes and clenched his fist. It was obvious that the landlord had set them up, but there was no way that he could say anything. He opened his eyes again and glanced over to the resident, only imagining how he was feeling right now. No, he probably couldn’t even start to picture what it must’ve felt like. His job was to help people, not do _this_.

“...yes, you can, you so---”

“That is true.” Iori interrupted Torao.

“You knew, didnˋt you.” the man finally spoke, his teeth clenched. “You went into our apartment and snooped around, didnˋt you. You just wanted us to leave. This is also why you said we did not pay the electricity bill, even though we did.”

Suddenly, the kitchen door was opened from the other side and a young man stared at them with sleepy eyes.

“Isumi-san, you should go back to slee--” the resident wanted to say but was interrupted.

“Eh?” the other asked. “What’s going on?”

“Very well.” Iori breathed deeply. “We shall head back for tonight. We will send you a notice as soon as possible and ask you to comply with it, uhm…?” he looked at the resident, hoping to learn his name.

“Natsume” he said monotonously. “Natsume Minami.”

“Thank you, Natsume-san.” he nodded. He noticed the change in Minami’s voice and turned to the landlord. “May I ask you to accompany us? We have to compile a report and would like for you to provide some information.” he explained and the landlord agreed. The visible joy of finally getting rid of these tenants made him very obliging. “Very well. Midou-san?”

“...yeah.” Torao nodded. He remained on the spot as Iori and the landlord walked towards the entrance door and left. He observed Minami for a moment before stepping away as well, but before leaving the kitchen, he stopped at the door and looked back. “I’m sorry.” he said silently and walked down the hall to the entrance, left and closed the door behind of him.

Iori had already descended the stairs with the landlord. He didn’t really need to ask him anything, but everyone would’ve wanted to leave them alone for the time being. Torao stood in front of the door, facing the floor and clenching his fist again.

“Shit.” he hit the wall next to him. It hadn’t been the first time that something like that happened. Unfortunately, it was an incident he had experienced on multiple occasions in the past already. People using any means possible to get rid of Burnish as if they were inferior.

This wasn’t what he had envisioned when he had told his personal hero that he’d be helping people once he grew up.

The next day Torao was sitting at his desk in Burning Rescue’s office, working on the report for the incident of last night while Iori was in Tenn’s bureau, talking about it. The others were at their desks as well, but they all kept silent. They knew that Torao was in a bad mood; whenever he was, he would push his laptop’s keys with more vigour than usually.

But since Momo didn’t like it if someone was feeling down, he opted to try and brighten up the mood.

“Haaah…” he sighed happily. “Mahjong sure was fun yesterday. We should play something else again tonight. Any ideas, Touma-chan?” he turned to Touma and winked.

“M-me!?” he wasn’t expecting that conversation. Momo nodded. “Uhh… have you ever played shogi?”

“You know how to play shogi?”

“N-no…”

“Ehhh!? Then why would you suggest it!?” Momo turned around on his office chair.

“I’ve always been interested in playing shogi.” Nagi said, tinkering with a gadget on his desk. “Hmm…”

“What are you doing?” Touma stood up and approached him.

“Working on a new _weapon_ for Iori.” he grabbed a screwdriver.

“Oh, what does it do? Does it produce high heat fire that burns off oxygen too, like ours?”

“ _No_ , it’s a portable cannon that shoots blankets to suffocate fire.” he explained with a serious expression.

“…what…” Touma was confused and heard Momo’s laughter in the background.

“As you said, your weapons use _high heat_ _fire_ that burns off oxygen so the Burnish can’t manipulate fire. But because Iori didn’t like the idea of fighting fire with fire…”

“Quite literally.” Momo added.

“…I am designing a weapon that uses more old-fashioned methods.” Nagi smiled.

“So, blankets.” Touma crossed his arms.

“ _Yes!_ ”

“Why not use water then?”

“’Ineffective. There are cases where water will only increase the damage. Assessing the situation each time before using a water-based weapon takes too much time.’ he said.” Nagi said as monotonously as he could possibly muster in an attempt to sound like Iori. Momo just started laughing again and leaned onto the back of his chair.

“I am glad my concerns bring you all joy.” Iori’s voice resounded. The door to the captain’s bureau was open and he was standing in the doorframe with crossed arms.

“ _Oh oh_ …” Nagi whispered and jumped up from his chair. “I shall finish this in the workshop.” he said and started running away.

“Hah.” Iori sighed and started walking again, closely followed by Tenn.

“Now then, are you all working properly?” he leaned onto the doorframe and looked around the office. Momo’s chair was slowly coming to a stand, Touma swiftly moved back to his desk and Torao was still vigorously typing. “More or less, I see.”

“This station is way too laid-back.” Iori sat down at his desk.

“Well it’s almost time anyways, you can have your lunch break already if you want. But get back to work once you’re done.” Tenn said and disappeared behind his door.

“Aye!” Momo and Touma said at the same time. Torao stood up silently, closed his laptop and was about to leave the room.

“Where are you going, Midou-san?”

“Gonna take a walk. I’ll be back.” he said without stopping and left the room.

“That thing yesterday must’ve really hit him hard, huh?” Momo asked Iori.

“That appears to be the case, yes. It seems it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“Should I go after him?” Touma was worried. Even though he was the latest to join Burning Rescue, he had known him for half his life already and wanted to help.

“It is probably best to leave him alone for the time being.” Iori started rearranging some files. “Though I agree with Midou-san’s sentiment. The person that requested our arrival yesterday was quite unpleasant, and we only had to deal with him for some minutes.”

“Wowie, if the Izumi ‘nerves of steel’ Iori-chan calls you unpleasant then you must be _really_ bad.”

“Please don’t call me misleading names, Sunohara-san.” he said. “Though I certainly did not expect to encounter Isumi-san there of all places.”

“Who?” Touma asked.

“A friend of yours?!” Momo got curious as well.

“He…” he stopped for a moment. “No, I would not necessarily call us friends. There were two children I used to play with when I was younger, he was one of them. But I have not seen them in years.”

“Iori-chan, that’s what friends do.”

“In any case, I have not seen them again ever since…” he swallowed. “…ever since they were taken away.”

“…I see.” Touma looked down on his desk.

If the Burnish mutation showed in kids, the government would separate them from ‘normal’ children as to not endanger them. What exactly happened with them then was unbeknownst to most of the citizens, not even the Burning Rescue knew.

“A-anyways…” Momo tried to change the subject. “Maybe you can meet up with him again soon!”

“…yes, maybe.” Iori smiled a tiny smile and Momo started teasing him about it.

At the same time, Torao was already riding his bike. Whenever he wanted to cool off his head, he’d always go on a short bike tour and then take a walk through the outer ring of the Shotokyo slums, which were located in the centre of the city. He’d make sure to get out of his uniform and into his private clothes before heading there, because even though he was supposed to be a symbol of help, any organization under the government wasn’t well received among the Burnish citizens.

The outer ring acted as a transition zone between the actual slums and the ‘normal’ part of the city. Housing only got more run-down the further inwards one went, at times providing a truly devastating landscape. Because of the state of that part of the slums, fires were no rarity and Burning Rescue had regular deployments there.

But no matter how often he went there, Torao could never get used to the sight. Every time anew, the anger towards the government and his own powerless self grew.

When he’d walk around and observe everyone, a smile would always find its way back to Torao. Seeing people enjoying themselves without any worry in the world calmed him down, even if, for many, that peace was only temporary.

He didn’t understand why people had to be treated differently just because they were Burnish, he didn’t _want_ to understand it either. Obviously, there were Burnish that used their powers for nefarious deeds and loved to wreak havoc, but that didn’t mean that every Burnish was like that.

Torao had come across multiple non-Burnish people that were considerably more evil. Before he joined Burning Rescue, he had worked in the police force. But since most crimes that were actually reported had Burnish involved, in nine out of ten cases the Burning Rescue would be called upon. He figured that if he’d transfer, he’d get to help more people.

To him everyone was the same and people should be judged upon by their individual reasons. He learned that lesson years ago when he was still a child.

It had been a sunny day when he had plans to go play soccer with some of his friends. But a moment of carelessness and he got lost on the way, accidentally venturing into the slum’s outer ring. Being the boy that he was he tried to look for the way back all on his own instead of asking someone else for help.

After he had walked around for a while, he came across a group of shady looking individuals that stopped him. They gathered around Torao, grins on their faces, small sparks of fire flickering around their bodies. He knew about Burnish; his father had told him a lot about them.

Just as one of the thugs was about to approach him, someone came jumping down from a building and put himself in between Torao and the thug. Torao’s eyes widened in excitement as he noticed who it was: his big brother.

The brother told Torao to take cover behind something and as soon as the young one had run away, the older brother started fighting the Burnish gang with his own fire. After some minutes of brawling against five others at the same time, the last one of them fell to the floor.

Torao came out of hiding and wanted to run to his brother, but before he could reach him a pair of hands grabbed him from behind. Simultaneously, four other people appeared and surrounded his brother; they were equipped with anti-Burnish gear.

As it turned out later, the thugs were a group of kidnappers that had been active for a while yet couldn’t be tracked down until that day. The enforcers had assumed Torao’s big brother to be one of them, not listening to his side of the story.

 _There is no way a_ Burnish _would help a normal child._ Torao clearly remembered those words he was told every time he tried to convince them that it was his brother and he had saved him, but they wouldn’t listen. Torao’s father had exiled the brother after his Burnish mutation awakened as to not sully the name of the family, so he didn’t defend his first son either.

Ever since that day Torao had never seen his brother again and he had decided to relinquish his father’s name once he grew old enough, get away from the house and start anew with his mother’s maiden name.

He had promised himself to protect the innocent from unfair treatment.

But since he had to go back to work after having lunch, this time he decided to stay in Shotokyo and not drive to the outer ring. He stopped his bike and got off. The sky was a cloudless blue and the sun was shining down brightly. He was wearing a simple white sleeveless shirt, a pair of washed jeans and his favourite sturdy boots.

Torao grabbed the sunglasses from his breast pocket and put them on before starting to walk down the alleys. It was lunchtime for the majority of people, so the streets were busy with people, going about their daily lives.

After walking around for a bit, the sound of a guitar playing in the distance caught his attention. He stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes. After finding out where the song was coming from, he decided to go after it. He didn’t know exactly why but for some reason he liked the melody a lot. After a while of following the music, he turned a corner and discovered the source.

In front of the fountain he saw someone playing the guitar, its case on the floor in front of him. Torao took off his sunglasses and approached the musician, finally recognizing the individual. It was the resident of the apartment he went to last night. Because it had been late and dark, he couldn’t get a good look at him before, but now it was as if the sun was shining for his performance only.

Torao stepped closer slowly, as if he was being drawn to him by an unknown force. The nervous man from last night and the joyful playing guitarist seemed like two completely different people. Torao stopped in front of the guitar case and listened to the pretty song. The seashell-colour haired man had his eyes closed and therefore didn’t notice him.

A gust of wind blew abruptly and as if on cue, the guitar playing was being accompanied by singing as well. Torao’s eyes widened in awe, enthralled by the song, or poem, rather. He kept listening closely to all of the words that seemed to be recounting a wistful story, yet full of hope.

When he seemed to be arriving at the end of the song, Torao got out his wallet from the back pocket. _Minami,_ he thought to himself, having remembered the poet’s name.

 _“under that ribbon of cosmos-green  
_ _like the flavour of coffee stays  
_ _long after the last drop  
_ _stuck to our tongues is the taste of liberty  
_ _we sing our requiem to the trees  
_ _to the rocks and the clouds and the sky  
_ _as the mother star rises  
_ _we descend in the east  
  
_ _never did the three of us  
_ _feel this freedom in our lungs  
_ _watched over by the stars_  
 _infinite celestials  
_ _speckled with stardust”_

He sang and finished playing. Two children came running past Torao’s side and threw some coins into the case. Minami opened his eyes and looked down at them.

“Thank you.” he said kindly. He slowly looked up again; his and Torao’s eyes met.

“…oh, I… uh…” Torao was awestruck, still holding his wallet but his hands seemingly frozen in time. “I…”

Minami’s gaze moved back and forth from his eyes to the wallet, seemingly wondering what was about to happen.

“Sorry.” Torao shook his head, grabbed a bill from his wallet and put it into the case. “I just really liked your song and wanted to… to thank you for it.” he averted his eyes, not entirely sure why he was reacting like that. It seems the song had moved him more than he thought.

“You are very welcome, Midou-san. I thank you for your patronage. Will you leave now? I am kind of working here.” he said after taking a deep breath.

“Oh, yes, you’re right.” he scratched the back of his head. “But isn’t it time for a lunch break soon?” he tried to keep the conversation going.

“What a coincidence.” he sounded somewhat annoyed. “Could you imagine that some people do work at that time, because that is the time, they get the best clientage? What do you, dear Midou-san, know about that?” he continued, but stomach grumbling interrupted him.

Torao knew what Minami was implying, and the fact that he couldn’t say anything in response only further frustrated him. But he didn’t want to give up, he was determined to be of some kind of help at least. He had one more plan, sink or swim.

“Would you mind if I invited you to have lunch with me? I gotta go back to work soon so I don’t have that much time left, but I…” he stopped and looked at Minami. “I know it’s not much and you might think it’s condescending of me, but I’d really like to help out somehow, if you don’t mind…” he explained and waited for an answer. After thinking about it for a while, Minami nodded.

“Alright. But you will be paying. And I would like to bring something home for the others as well.”

“Really?!” he asked surprised, having expected a no. “And sure, I don’t mind!” he smiled.

“Alright”, Minami said. “Where are you inviting me to, Midou-san? A luxurious restaurant?”

“I’m not sure if they’d have any space if we just go unannounced, hmm…” he put a hand to the chin and started thinking.

“And it would be impossible for me to get in but thank you for your honest consideration of my sarcastic remark.” Minami seemed to finally be enjoying himself a bit.

“Alright, then I’ll show you to my fav local restaurant. It’s not that far away from here so we’ll be there in a moment.” he said and waited for Minami to pack up his guitar. The other nodded and started collecting the coins and bills from the guitar case. He stuffed them away, put his guitar in the case and shouldered it.

“I will be in your care.” he said. “Lead the way.”

“‘Kay.” he nodded as well and started walking. On the way there he tried to think of something to talk about with Minami. But whenever he thought to have found something, he ended up being unsure if it was okay to talk about it and just didn’t say anything. They reached the restaurant after a while without having exchanged a single word. “We’re here.”

“It looks good.” Minami mentioned as he was eyeing the menu hung outside.

“They serve quickly and so far, it’s always been good too. Do you wanna sit inside or outside?” he asked. When waiting for a response, he felt as if he could see a spark of excitement light up inside of Minami.

“Would it be alright if we go inside…?”

“Sure! I’m kinda a regular here so I’ll get us a nice table, hehe.” he grinned and opened the door to let Minami in. He stepped in slowly, stopped, took another step and stopped again. A few steps later he turned around to look at Torao questioningly.

Torao stepped in as well, winked, passed by him and called for a waiter to ask for a table. He had noticed Minami’s confused expression and he knew exactly why he was surprised. Of course, Torao knew of the heat detectors in various buildings that had been built to keep out Burnish. They would react to their high body heat and warn any establishment when a Burnish was about to enter.

But he also knew that this restaurant didn’t have any of those.

The waiter showed them to a table and handed them the menu as he asked what they wanted to drink. Torao ordered ‘the usual’, shawarma, and Minami just followed suit while also hesitantly asking for two more portions and if he could take them home. The waiter looked at Torao with a questioning and raised eyebrow, but after receiving a nod in response, he told Minami that it would be no problem and walked away again.

“Say, Midou-san---” he began but was interrupted.

“Torao.” he said. “You can call me Torao.”

“Alright, Torao-san.” Minami said. “Are you not afraid that you will lose your job? Eating out with someone like me.”

“Nah, everyone at my station thinks the same. When I told them about that landlord from yesterday, they all felt like punching him once or twice.” he sighed and made Minami chuckle.

“I wish they had. I wish I had.”

“Uhm… how are you…” he tried to think of a way to ask. “How is the situation right now? If you don’t mind me asking.” he asked finally and was met with a frown.

“Well, we have a place to stay for now.” he answered then. “It is only temporary, and I am looking for a new place, but not many people want to rent an apartment to three minors who are Burnish. You understand, it is difficult to find someone who will not ask too many questions and also will not throw us out in a racist fit.”

“...yeah, that sounds…” Torao thought of a fitting word.

“And since my income is less than stable, and because I got interrupted by a certain handsome firefighter it is even more difficult. With my earnings from today’s session I would not be able to pay for even one of our meals here. Not thinking of rent.” Minami exhaled. “I am sorry for ranting. I did not mean to upset you.”

“No, it’s okay, I’ll listen. I wish I could do more, but as you’re probably very much aware, I… can’t.” he sighed. “Haha, young me just wanted to do a job where I help people, but now I’m in a position where I have to actively hurt one part of the population just because they happen to be different.”

“Help people…” Minami nodded. “I see. Then, Torao-san, would you help me right now?”

“Me?” he looked at Minami. “How can I help you?” he asked, genuinely curious because he himself didn’t know how to change how things were.

“Tell me about yourself. Help me cheer up in this dire situation. What kind of person is Midou Torao? What does he do in his free time? What is his family like? I want to know. Who knows? It might inspire me to write a new song, which might lead to me earning money.”

“...” he blinked a few times. All those questions had caught him off-guard, but he was happy that Minami wanted to know more about him. “Where to start… Uhh, as you may have noticed already, I’m working with Burning Rescue ‘cause I wanna help others. Oh but I worked with the police first. Haha, pretty standard young boy dream jobs, huh?” he laughed.

“A true superhero, are you?” he smiled.

“Your shawarma.” the waiter said and put down two plates in front of them, as well as a bag with two additional servings wrapped in brown paper.

“Thanks.” Torao told the waiter and turned back to Minami. “I mean, superheroes are super cool, aren’t they?”

“You could say that.” Minami eyed his food and took a bite. “Oh! Delicious.”

“ _Super_ delicious?” he asked.

Minami’s attempt to hide a laughter from Torao failed as he started laughing wholeheartedly.

“Yes.” he said. “Super delicious.”

“Nice, finally made you laugh.” Torao grinned. “Suits you way better.” he added and started eating as well. Minami tried to not let the other see his blushing cheeks by staring down on his plate, but Torao did notice it nonetheless, though he decided to not mention it for the time being.

Once they had finished eating, their empty plates were taken away and Torao resumed answering the questions from before.

“And well, as for what I do in my free time…” he leaned back in the chair. “I like to go on rides with my bike and take walks around town, mostly the outer ring. I just like its atmosphere a lot, I think. Oh, but I also enjoy spending my time inside, reading comics and stuff. And playing board games with the crew. I kinda live at the station, you know.” he explained.

“You should take me on a ride.” Minami mused. “I could give you a private concert… just kidding.”

“S-sure, I’ll take you somewhere someday.” he answered, ignoring his last remark. “And why don’t you give a bigger concert from time to time? I'm sure you've been approached about gigs in venues!”

“I actually have been approached, but I had to decline.” Minami said, looking at Torao. “It is impossible for me to even enter a venue after all.”

“Huh?” he crossed his arms. “Why impossible?”

“Torao-san.” Minami sighed. “Heat detectors.”

“...r-right…” he looked away and saw the clock on the wall. “Oh shit, I gotta head back to work.”

Minami took the bag with the food and swung his guitar case back onto his shoulder.

“Alright.” he said. “Thank you for the food, Torao-san. And I am sorry to say it like this, but I hope I will never need to see you again… at least in certain contexts.”

“Well…” Torao stood up and grinned. “Then I sure hope to see you again in the other contexts then.” he said and called over the waiter to pay.

“I will go back to work now.” Minami said. “Goodbye Torao-san.” and stepped out into the street, leaving Torao behind.

“See ya.” he whispered, even though Minami had already left.

After he paid, he quickly left the restaurant and walked back to his bike to get back to work. Once back at his desk, Momo noticed how Torao’s mood was better than before and asked him if something nice had happened to him, but Torao only smiled and remained silent.

The rest of the day went by without any further incidents and as by Touma’s suggestion, they played some shogi that night. When Tenn left his office to head to his room, he discovered the others and asked to join them again. ‘My other grandfather was a professional shogi player’ he said and made everyone else sigh.

After they all lost to Tenn at least once, they decided to call it a day and head to bed, but just as they were about to put away the pieces…

“Whoa, an earthquake!?” Momo exclaimed, quickly holding onto the rails of the stairs that led to the upper floor. Instinctively, everyone did the same, even though they all knew that their base had been built completely quakeproof; everyone but Tenn.

But just as sudden as it came, it calmed down as well again.

“…is it over already?” Touma asked carefully, his arms wrapped around a pillar.

“It seems like it only was a short tremor, yes.” Tenn said. “And care to tell me how holding onto potentially collapsing structures would be of any help if this wasn’t quakeproof?” he crossed his arms and looked around.

“Uhm…”

“Hah.” he sighed.

“ _OH NO!”_ Nagi yelled suddenly and dashed up the stairs. Torao looked at the others in confusion but only received equally perplexed expressions. After a short moment Nagi walked down the stairs, panting from his short distance marathon. “ _Everything_ is okay.”

“What is okay?” Torao asked.

“My figures.”

“…”

“I knew it was a good idea to attach the vitrines to the wall, floor and ceiling.”

“…” Tenn tried to think of an answer to that but decided to ignore him instead. “Either way, it seems like nothing else will happen for the night, so please head to sleep and be ready for tomorrow.”

“Aye aye!” Momo saluted.

“I’m no expert on the topic, but I’ve read before that tremors like these often don’t come alone. Be prepared for a possibly tough day.”

“Understood!” the others said in unison. They quickly put everything away – including small things the tremor had moved or made fall from somewhere – and went upstairs.

The upper floor contained their quarters where everyone had a room of their own. After Torao got hugged by Nagi (as his routine demanded to hug everyone before going to bed) he entered his own room and approached the bed. He took off his shirt and let himself fall onto the mattress.

He turned around to face the ceiling and sighed deeply. But because he wasn’t sleepy yet, he recalled the events of the day and had to think of Minami. To be more precise, Minami’s smile.

“Heh.” Torao was proud that he had been the cause of it. Of such a genuine and relieved smile. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but imagine what Minami must’ve gone through in his life, for such a simple and stupid joke to produce that much of a reaction.

His pride crumbled and was replaced with that same feeling of weakness, unable to help others as much as he would like to.

Yet he was aware that thinking about it wouldn’t change anything. Torao turned to the side and gazed out of his window. The moon was out, but stars couldn’t be seen. Too bright were the lights of Shotokyo. He wondered if Minami was seeing the same scenery at the moment.

But then his thoughts quickly shifted to asking himself if nothing bad had happened during the tremor before. Torao didn’t know about the current place Minami and his friends were staying at, but he hoped everything had been okay.

He sighed again. He was tired of being powerless. And if he could get rid of that nasty feeling by actually helping someone, even if only a bit, then he would try anything to help out Minami.

“…wait.” he whispered. “I have no means to contact him.” he covered his face with his hands. “I should’ve asked him for _something_ at least.” he muffled through his hands. “I wonder if he’ll be at that fountain again…”

And as he slowly started admitting to himself that he might be developing feelings for Minami (if he didn’t already have), the sleepiness grew and eventually made him fall asleep.

The rays of sunshine that fell through the window and onto Torao’s face tickled in his nose and woke him up. He yawned, stretched his arms and yawned again. After checking the time, he realized he had woken up before his alarm. But now it was too late to try and catch some more sleep.

He stood up, got some new clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a cold shower. The fresh water woke him up completely and he decided to head downstairs and brew some coffee for the team.

“Already up?”

“Oh, good morning boss.” Torao said as he walked down the stairs.

“Morning.” Tenn replied, not lifting his gaze from the newspaper.

“Yup, sun woke me up. Couldn’t fall asleep again.”

“That’s what you get for sleeping with open shutters.” he turned a page.

“I just like falling asleep while looking at the starry sky.”

“We normally can’t see the stars here.”

“The night sky then. Makes me feel like I’m camping outside. Like a hero, watching out, just me under the starry canopy.” he started fantasizing about it.

“Again, no stars.”

“The moony canopy then.”

“Not a word but go on.” Tenn turned another page.

“Hah, whatever.” he sighed. “Want some coffee?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Sure.” Torao nodded and went to the kitchen. He brewed the coffee, filled two cups and walked back to the couch where Tenn was sitting. He placed Tenn’s cup on the table in front of him and took a sip from his own.

“Thank you.” Tenn folded the newspaper and put it down next to him.

“Any news?” Torao asked.

“Nothing much, just the usual.”

“Good.”

“How so?”

“That means nothing bad happened.”

“Hmm…” he grabbed his cup with both hands and drank from it. “Did you put in two cubes of sugar?”

“…” he averted Tenn’s gaze and sipped innocently.

“I’ll go get some.” he stood up, the cup in his hand.

“I’m sorry.” Torao apologized.

“It’s fine. It’s early in the morning, I don’t blame you.” Tenn explained and walked towards the kitchen.

No one at Burning Rescue knew how their boss managed to do everything that he did. He often was the last person to stop working but would always be the first one awake in the morning. Yet he never appeared to be overly tired.

One day, Momo had started a rumour saying that Tenn was actually a vampire. Touma had believed it for about a week until he blurted out something that he wanted to keep secret ‘because it would show he knew Tenn was a vampire’. Ever since that day Tenn prohibited spreading wrong rumours for everyone’s (but mostly Touma’s) safety.

When Tenn came back from the kitchen, the rest of the crew had woken up already as well and joined Torao on the couch.

“There’s more coffee in the kitchen if you want any.” Torao said.

“Thanks.” Touma nodded. “I’ll go get some, anyone else?”

“Me too!” Nagi raised his arm.

“Me three!” Momo added.

“Careful not to spill anything, Touma.” Tenn said as he crossed paths with him.

“No worries, I can handle it.” he said and vanished in the kitchen. Tenn resumed his place from before and continued reading the newspaper.

“Nagi-chan, wanna play a game before our shift starts?” Momo asked.

“ _Yes!_ ” he replied with a smile.

“You guys are always playing board games.” Torao commented.

“Well Torao-chan, what do you think this huge collection is for?” he pointed at the shelves that were brimming over with various board games, all bought by Momo. “They won’t play themselves you know!?”

“Yeah but like---” but before he could finish his sentence a rumbling resounded through the hall.

Another tremor. But stronger. An earthquake.

Everyone froze in place and tried to hold things that might fall easily. They heard a shattering sound in the background and turned their heads. The cups Touma was carrying on a tray had fallen to the floor, coffee spilling everywhere. Tenn sighed but as happy that it was nothing serious.

Even though the building was safe from earthquakes, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t feel it, especially if it was more intense. But it was over as quickly as it came, even though it had felt like the ground shook for several minutes.

“Is everyone okay?” Tenn asked.

“I’m sorry…” Touma said in the distance.

“Doesn’t matter, just clean it up, will y---” his words were cut short by the siren. He immediately put the newspaper and cup away and stood up. “Get readY to head out, right now.” he ordered the others.

“Understood!” they jumped up, saluted and dashed towards the fire truck to put on their protective clothes and equip themselves.

“I want you out in less than a minute. Nagi, I’ll send you the coordinates onto the computer on board.”

“ _Roger!_ ” Nagi nodded.

In about 30 seconds, Torao and the others were already equipped and had entered the fire truck. Tenn was already in his office, ready to lead the mission. He put on his headset and transmitted the fire’s location.

“Gentlemen.” he said into the microphone. “Head out.”

“Let’s go!” Touma exclaimed and stepped on the gas.

“Kujou-san was right…” Iori said, sitting in front of Torao and next to Momo in the back of the truck.

“Hm?” Torao wondered.

“That tremors don’t come alone.”

“Yeah.” he sighed. “I just hope we make it in time for nothing serious to happen.”

“No need fretting over that right now, Torao-chan.” Momo put a hand on the other’s shoulder. “Let’s just do our best once we get there.”

“…yes.”

After some minutes, the truck stopped and the doors opened. Everyone but Nagi got out quickly and observed the burning building in front of them. Torao drew his sword.

“Touma! Start evacuation. Nagi, assistance.” he acted as the leader on sight.

“ _Roger!”_ the two said at the same time.

“Momo and I will go inside. Iori, back us up.”

“Understood.” he nodded and the other two entered the building.

Momo shot into the fire. The bullets of his twin guns exploded and suffocated the fire; it worked just like Torao’s katana. The surrounding fire died down a bit and the two continued.

“Nagi! Anyone inside!?” Torao asked as he swung his weapon.

“ _Yes_ , your _masks_ are picking up a signal. Someone is lying on the floor further in the back.”

“Guide us!”

“ _Roger!_ ” he said and told them how to get to the person. Momo crouched down and checked the person’s vitals.

“She’s still breathing!” he exclaimed.

“Her body temperature is exceedingly high…” Nagi noticed. The visors of Burning Rescue’s helmets had a built-in sensor. It constantly sent data to Nagi in the fire track so he could provide support or call for back-up if needed. “You need to carry her out. The fire might not harm her, but we need to _calm_ her down.”

“Alright! Momo, let’s get her out of here!”

“Yeah!” he answered and the two carried her out of the still burning building. Once they were outside, they carefully put her down on the ground. After that, Torao and Momo rushed back inside to extinguish the remaining flames.

Iori quickly attended to the woman that the two had helped out of the building. He took one of the blankets from his gun and covered her while telling Touma to get her into the truck. When he turned around, he noticed two people standing close by; one of them being a familiar face.

“Natsume-san!” he approached them quickly. “This is too dangerous, please step back.”

“I apologize.” Minami said and stepped back. He seemed restless, looking around frantically as the other person pulled him back to the other side of the street. Now that he had made sure those two wouldn’t be in danger, Iori turned back to the building and was about to head inside himself as well.

But before he could enter, Torao and Momo exited again. The fire had been put out and only smoke remained in the air, slowly floating skywards and disappearing.

“Was there no one else inside?” Iori asked.

“No, only her.” Torao answered. “But she really needs to be treated quickly.”

“Nagi-chan, how much to the nearest hospital?” Momo asked into the microphone attached to his earpiece.

“We can’t drive her to a hospital!”

“Ehh!?”

“Didn’t you see her hands?”

“Is she…”? Iori asked.

“...yeah.”

“Then what should we do?” Momo was visibly worried.

“Excuse me.” the person that was with Minami said. “I couldn’t help but overhear, and might I take her under my wing?”

“Who are you?” Torao asked the bespectacled man.

“Not important…” he said. “What’s actually important is that I can treat her. And my friend over there is a little out of it, and our house is literally a dust storm, so if one of you could go in there and bring me the meds I tell you that’d be just superb.”

“Friend?” he turned his head and saw Minami. “Minami!?”

“Torao-chan?” Momo asked and Torao focused again.

“Boss, did you hear what he said?” he asked Tenn via radio.

“I don’t mind, I’ll take responsibility.”

“Alright. Momo, you’re the fastest. You go.”

“Aye aye!” Momo received a list of meds from the mysterious helper. After that, the man squatted down next to the woman and seemed to tell her something. Whatever it was, it calmed her down significantly and Torao was thankful for it.

Thanks to the retractable wheels attached to Momo’s boots, he could swiftly enter the building next door and fetch the meds mentioned on the list. He gave them to the man with no name and observed him. At the same time, Torao took off his helmet and walked towards Minami and the other two. Iori followed close behind.

“I’m… uhh…” Torao scratched his chin. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Likewise.” Minami answered with a smile.

“May I ask you if you know the woman who was involved in the incident?” Iori asked suddenly. Despite the situation, he still had a protocol to follow.

“Can’t that wait a sec, Iori!?” Torao retorted.

“Eh, Iorin?” the tallest of the three looked up. “Isumin, look, it’s Iorin!”

“Oh, true.” the other said. Torao recognized him from when they had been in Minami’s former apartment. _So, he must be that other friend he mentioned…_ “Hi Izumi.”

“Hello, Isumi-san. Yotsuba-san.” Iori bowed down slightly. Torao raised an eyebrow. “Wh-what is it?”

“Is that all you say after meeting with your old friends again?”

“We… we weren’t necessarily friends. And besides, right now we are on the job, we should---”

“Hah, Iori…”

“We weren’t friends?” the tall one, Iori had called him Yotsuba, asked. “But we exchanged friendship bracelets, remember? You made them Iorin, they were really cute~” he continued and the other nodded fiercely.

“Did you know you made them fireproof? We still have them.” he added.

“Not right now though, ‘cuz they get in the way at work, you know?” Yotsuba said.

“...you still have them as well…?” Iori whispered.

“‘as well’, huh?” Torao grinned.

“Midou-san!”

“Ahem.” Tenn’s voice resounded through their earpieces. “You do realize the radio’s still on, yes?”

“...sorry, boss.” Torao apologised.

“Please excuse our behaviour, Kujou-san.” Iori bowed down, even though Tenn couldn’t see it. As the other three couldn’t hear their boss’ voice, they were somewhat confused as to why they were suddenly apologising.

“Should I leave so the three of you can catch up?” Minami asked. “Perhaps the doctor could use my assistance…” he turned his gaze and looked towards the rescued woman and the others.

“Hah.” Tenn sighed. “In any case, the fire’s out, building seems to be okay otherwise. Momo already let me know that the victim is safe for now again. You may take a short break.”

“Really?” Torao was surprised.

“I’ll have Touma and Nagi do the paperwork. I’ve also checked the area for other possible incidents or fires, but it seems this was the only one needing our assistance, luckily.”

“Understood, Kujou-san.” Iori nodded, looked at his old friends and smiled. “It seems we do have some time to catch up, after all.” he stopped for a moment and averted his eyes. “I-if you want…”

“Of course, we want Iorin!” Yotsuba said and smiled. “Right, Isumin?”

“Sure.” Isumi said. “Not that I’m _that_ desperate to talk to firefighters all the time, but I’ll make an exception for you.”

“I will leave you to catch up then.” Minami said as he got up and brushed dust off his pants. “Enjoy your time with Izumi-san, will you?” he looked around aimlessly again, as if trying to find a place to go and wait.

Torao put an arm on Iori’s shoulder, winked and showed him a thumbs-up with the other hand. He then left the three to catch up and stepped next to Minami.

“...hey.”

“Oh, hello Torao-san.”

“Wanna… take a walk around the block…?” he asked, trying to find a way to have a chat with him as well.

“I do not mean to offend you, but I doubt it would be a good idea for you to walk around here in your attire.” Minami said and pointed at Torao’s Burning Rescue uniform vaguely. But then his expression suddenly changed, and he seemed more serious, Torao thought. “Yet there is something I would like you to hear about.”

“Oh, right. I---”

“Torao. Microphone.” Tenn said.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” he finally remembered to turn it off. “Ahem.” he cleared his throat. “You were saying?”

“The earthquakes…” Minami began. “They are not normal. We know earthquakes, there are still a lot of them, but the last two were different.”

“Different?” he asked, not expecting that subject. “How so?”

“We…” he made sure Torao understood who he meant. “We felt them. It was as if the tremors resonated within us. The earthquake was calling for our flames.”

He took a deep breath and stared at Torao.

“What I am trying to say is…” he stopped, searching for the right words. “The fire… is not her fault. It could not be helped; she had no control over her fire. We all faced that problem, but some can control it better and did not get affected. So, if you could please refrain from legal action against her…? It was not arson that set fire to the building.”

“Hmm, I understand…” he mumbled. “Well, not really, but you know. I’ll talk to our boss about it. I’m sure he won’t do anything. And hey, I doubt anyone here who might’ve seen the fire wouldn’t understand, just like you said right now. And none of our crew is like that either, so no worries.” he smiled, hoping that would put Minami at ease a bit.

“Thank you, Torao-san. But I am worried. These earthquakes are not normal, they are not coming from where earthquakes usually come from. There is something happening. So please take care of the city and…” Minami averted his eyes. “And take care of yourself as well.”

“Thanks for telling me. We will.” he faced Minami. “I will. So, you do too.”

“I will.” he nodded.

“Alright gentlemen, break time is over.” Torao suddenly heard Tenn’s voice again.

“Whoa, what? I thought I turned it off?”

“You did. I turned it on again.”

“You can do that?”

“As I just did, yes. Yes, I can.”

“Hah…”

“Gather everyone and make preparations to leave. I’ll have your report when you’re back.”

“Roger.” Torao nodded and turned back to Minami. “Seems like we gotta go again.”

“Goodbye, Torao-san. I hope we will see each other again under better circumstances.” he said as he waved goodbye.

“I hope so too, Minami. See ya.” he waved as well and walked back to where Momo and Touma were waiting for him. “Alright boys let’s get going. And thanks for the help, four-eyes.”

“No prob.” the man said. “But here, please call me ‘doctor’. Oh, but ‘Onii-san’ is fine too--”

“Bye Iorin!” Yotsuba interrupted him, waving his arm as well, though with much more vigour. “See you soon!”

“Hey, we don’t know if that’ll be possible” Isumi mumbled yet waved all the same.

“Alright then Doctor Four-Eyes.” Torao said and got on the truck. Touma and Momo said goodbye as well and got on too.

“...it was nice talking to you two again after all this time, Yotsuba-san, Isumi-san.” he bowed down a bit. “I hope we get a chance to talk again someday. Goodbye.” he said and quickly entered the truck as well.

Once everyone was on board, Touma started the engine and they drove back to their base. They all let out a sigh of relief simultaneously and took of their helmets.

“Well done guys.” Torao said.

“I’m glad Doctor Four-Eyes-chan was there to help. What would’ve happened otherwise?” Momo wondered.

“I really dunno.”

“It was indeed a lucky moment. Though be that as it may, we should return at some point and ask him some questions. Maybe we could have Kujou-san accompany one of us.” Iori started explaining.

“I’ll think about it.” Tenn answered.

“Kujou-san, please refrain from turning the radio back on when we turn it off ourselves.”

“But I asked Nagi to build in that function specifically.”

“And that is the problem, sir!” Iori talked back.

“Seriously. I thought I was on my own when talking to Minami. Good thing I didn’t… nevermind.” Torao decided to not finish that thought.

“Don’t worry, Torao. I only tuned in towards the end.”

“That doesn’t make it better!”

“Though your talk about those bracelets was quite endearing, Iori.” they could hear Tenn’s chuckle.

“Bracelets?” Momo tilted his head in confusion.

“K-Kujou-san!!” a tiny blush appeared on Iori’s face.

“Oh right, tell us about that? What’s up with the bracelets?!” Torao grinned.

“Hah, you people…” Iori sighed but told them either way. “Yes, as Yotsuba-san had mentioned… When we were young, I made bracelets for us.” he explained. “B-but I did not call them friendship bracelets!”

“Were they matching?”

“…yes.”

“Then they were friendship bracelets.”

“Yup, definitely friendship bracelets.” Momo nodded in agreement.

“Indeed.” Tenn added.

“ _Yes._ ” Nagi tuned in through the radio as well.

“Rokuya-san!!” Iori exclaimed.

“But why did you make them fireproof?” Torao asked.

“I was aware of the fact that they were Burnish, even long before they were taken away. So, I made them with that in mind.”

“I see.”

“…hehe, to believe they would still have them…” he whispered.

“Do you still have yours too?” Momo asked with a smile.

“…I do. It’s in the drawer of my desk.”

“Then you should wear it! And when you see them next time you can show them!”

“…” Iori thought about it for a while but nodded with a smile. “Understood.”

They arrived at their base and once Touma had parked the truck, they all got off and reported to Tenn.

“Understood.” Tenn said, standing next to the window in his office.

“Was it a good idea to leave the woman with that doctor?” Iori asked.

“I think it was probably the best decision at the moment.”

“And considering what Minami said…”

“It’s safe to assume that individual is a Burnish too.” Tenn continued. “It’s a shame we didn’t get his name, but there’s nothing we can do about that.”

“I’ll try and ask Minami next time.”

“Next time?” Iori asked. “Do you have plans to further meet with him?”

“…maybe.” he averted his eyes.

“Oh, do you have his contact information?” Tenn turned to him.

“…fuck, I forgot again.”

“I’ll take that as a no then.”

“Sorry.”

“No worries.” Tenn chuckled. “Alright, thank you for the report. Back to work.”

“Understood!” Torao and Iori said and left Tenn’s office.

Momo and Touma were already sitting at their desks, mostly working. Torao stretched his arms and sat down as well.

“I need to ask Rokuya-san something about my weapon, I shall go to the laboratory.” Iori said and walked away.

“Have fun!” Momo exclaimed, put his feet on the chair and hugged his legs. “Say…”

“Hmm?” Touma asked.

“The thing Minami-chan told Torao-chan… What do you think he meant?”

“About the earthquake not coming from a natural source?”

“Yeah that.”

“I searched for info online while waiting for my game to upda---I-I mean, while…” Momo interrupted himself. “…no can’t think of anything. Anyways.” he cleared his throat; Torao rolled his eyes. “I saw rumours that the earthquake not only happened here but all around the world. And at the same time too!”

“Really?” Touma asked. “Why only rumours though?”

“You know how it is with official info.”

“Only this earthquake or the tremor last night too?” Torao asked.

“Apparently both!” Momo turned to him. “And no one really knows why. Or more like, how.”

“That sure does sound like an unnatural source.” Touma added.

“Right? So I’ve been thinking---”

“That’s a new one.” Tenn suddenly said, standing in the frame of his door.

“Hey!” Momo turned around and glared at him.

“Sorry, it was handed on a plate.”

“Grr.”

“Please continue, I just wanted a cup of coffee.” he said and walked to the kitchen.

“…as I was saying…” he continued. “What if the government had caused the earthquakes?”

“The government? Why?” Touma was confused. “What would they gain from it?”

“…the trembling affects Burnish and can make them lose control, which then results in them causing fires…” Torao mumbled, more to himself than anything else.

“Bingo!” Momo pointed at him.

“So, you’re implying the government is artificially creating earthquakes to make Burnish lose control, so they start fires and can therefore be dealt with, yes?” Tenn came back with a cup of coffee in his hands and took a sip.

“Exactly.”

“You’ve read too many conspiracy theories.”

“Tenn-chan!”

“Well, while I do agree that the idea sounds wild, I can’t deny the fact that it sounds plausible for them to do something like that.” Torao sighed.

“I agree, but with nothing to prove this there’s nothing we can do.” Tenn explained.

“And how would they even do that? Is that even possible?” Touma asked.

“Unlikely. But possible.” Nagi said out of nowhere. He and Iori had returned from the lab.

“Whoa, since when were you standing there!?”

“We heard Sunohara-san’s theory.” Iori said and walked to his desk. “Though it is quite far-fetched, even I have to admit that it does not sound unthinkable.”

“And you think they could create earthquakes?”

“ _Yes_ , it wouldn’t be much of a _problem_.” Nagi nodded. “That is, if they also had a genius inventor like me at their disposal.”

“ _You_ could make one?” Torao asked.

“ _No problem_ , Torao.” Nagi smiled. “I had the idea of a machine to create small scale tremors when I was 15.”

“…why would you---”

“But to create such massive earthquakes – on the entire world – you’d either need one _massive_ machine or various dozens, probably. If not more.”

“Hmm…” Torao started thinking. “I wish I could ask Minami more about it.”

“Well.” Tenn said and looked at his watch. “It’s almost time for lunch break.” he said and walked back to his office. Torao got the message and stood up. Even though he didn’t have any way to contact Minami, there was one place he could check for good measures.

He walked up the stairs, got changed quickly and headed to his bike. After he sat down and was about to put on his helmet, he felt someone else sat down on it behind him.

“Nagi!?” he turned around and saw his blond friend. “What’re you doing?”

“I shall accompany you.”

“…why!?”

“Because I always wanted to know more about Burnish. I have many _questions_ I want to ask your future _boyfriend_.” he smiled. Torao squinted but didn’t want to deny the power that statement held.

“Hah, fine. Put on a helmet and grab onto something.” he put on his helmet and started the engine. Two arms wrapped around his waist. “I meant the bike but sure.”

“ _Let’s go!!”_

“I swear to god, if Minami sees us like this and gets the wrong idea you’re walking back here.” Torao complained and started driving.

After Torao stopped the bike and the two got off, he quickly walked towards the fountain. He hoped to find Minami there again, singing that song one more time. Or perhaps another one? He wondered how many different songs Minami knew. Torao wanted to hear them all and tell him how pretty they were.

But Minami wasn’t there.

“He’s not here?” Nagi asked, having followed close after Torao.

“…doesn’t look like it.” Torao sighed.

“I’m sure you’ll see him again.” he smiled and put a hand on the other’s shoulder. “Should we get something to eat?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” he nodded and showed Nagi to the same restaurant he invited Minami to. But this time they ordered something for take-out and sat down on the brim of the fountain.

“Torao?”

“Yeah?” he bit into his sandwich.

“Do you like Minami?” Nagi asked. He wasn’t one to beat around the bush.

“…” he took another bite and swallowed. “Yeah.”

“I see.” he started eating as well. “That’s good. I’m glad that you found someone.”

“Thanks.” Torao smiled.

“But one question.”

“What?”

“With your choice…” Nagi turned to him. “ _Are you happy?_ ”

“ _Yes._ ” he answered immediately, without any doubt in his voice.

“ _Good!_ ” Nagi smiled again and continued eating.

The two spent the rest of their lunch break by the fountain, eating, observing the people go about their day; the earthquake didn’t do all too much in that area of the city, as expected, and life was back to normal already.

After they drove back and returned to work, an afternoon of uneventful desk work went by slower than Torao would have liked it. Night came and the crew decided to play a game of poker.

“I’ll give out the cards.” Momo raised his hand and grabbed the set.

“Why you?” Torao asked, standing behind the couch; he wasn’t in the mood for card games so he would head to his room soon.

“’Cause I suck at keeping a poker face.”

“Yeah I can see that.” Torao nodded. “Though I doubt anyone besides our boss is good at that.”

“Well, actually---” Tenn started.

“Don’t tell me your grandma was a professional poker player!?” Touma exclaimed.

“Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.” Tenn chuckled. “I just wanted to mention that I’m not particularly good at poker either, so I’m sure this’ll be fair.”

“I’m not sure, Iori-chan looks like he’d be good at this kinda stuff.”

“It has been a while since I last played it but I will do my best.” Iori formed a fist with his right hand and looked determined.

“Oh!” Touma exclaimed and pointed at Iori’s wrist. “Is that the friendship bracelet your old friends mentioned today?” he laughed. “It looks really cute!”

“…!” Iori flustered and quickly hid it by pulling his sleeve down. “…l-let us start playing already!” he wanted to change the subject and divert the attention away from his arm.

“Cute.” Torao started laughing. “Well, have fun playing, I’m gonna call it a day already.”

“Alrighty Torao-chan, nighty!” Momo waved his arm.

“Rest well, Tora.”

“Good job today.” Tenn said.

“Wait!” Nagi jumped up, rushed to him, gave him a hug and sat down again. “ _Goodnight._ ”

“Night.” Torao said and walked up the stairs. He got ready for bed and entered his room. But instead of actually going to sleep already, he pulled out a comic from one of his shelves, sat down on his bean bag and started reading.

Just like when he was a child, he still loved reading about superheroes saving people and the world. Some would argue that reading comics was childish, but he didn’t care about what others thought about it; not anymore.

He thought back to Nagi’s question during lunch break. The reason why he had asked him if he was happy was quite simple. Nagi was asking, if he was happy to have fallen for Minami and the answer was simple: yes.

Nagi had been asked the same question once, years ago. And back then he didn’t know how to answer it. He too had someone that he loved dearly, but their relationship wasn’t meant to be. Nagi had told Torao about him one day, about that short but hugely passionate, energetic young man. About how they had been happy together. About how they had spent their days together.

About how he was taken away one day.

The one Nagi liked was a Burnish, and one day he wanted to protect a young Burnish boy getting pestered by a group of rowdies. In an act of self-defence, he used his powers against the non-Burnish. Onlookers called the police and when they arrived, they dragged _him_ away instead of that group.

Nagi had tried his best to explain the situation, but the police wouldn’t listen. In a last attempt before they could drag him away, he had turned to Nagi and asked him, if he had been happy to have met him. _I hesitated, and before I could answer, they were already dragging him away. Mitsuki’s heartrending smile was the last thing I saw of him._

Torao clearly remembered that conversation with Nagi. He remembered how Nagi explained, that for a fleeting moment, he had thought that maybe they would’ve ended up happier, if they had never met. _If I’m ever allowed to see him again, I shall give him my proper answer._

After he had finished reading the comic, he put it onto his desk and checked the time. The clock on the wall showed 11:50pm, almost midnight. Torao turned around and gazed out of his window. Once again, he couldn’t see the stars. And once again, he wished that he could.

“I wonder what Minami is doing right now…” he whispered to himself. Was he looking up at the night sky as well? Was he safe at home? Did something else happen to them or anyone they knew? Was there really no other incident in the area? All those questions wouldn’t leave him alone.

He stretched out his hand to the starless sky, as if wanting to reach out a helping hand to Minami. Would he grab it?

“Hey, Minami?” he said silently. “How come we live in such different worlds, even though we’re gazing at the same moon?”

Torao opened his eyes. He looked around his room in confusion, not remembering when or how he fell asleep last night. The clock on the wall read nine o’clock in the morning. He yawned and stretched his arms while getting out of bed. He got ready and walked down the stairs.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.” Tenn said, sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper as per usual.

“I’m sorry. It’s been years since I last overslept, dunno how that happened.”

“Don’t apologise to me but your co-workers.”

“Where are they?” he looked around but couldn’t find anyone.

“Patrolling.”

“All of them?”

“Well _someone_ overslept.”

“…I’m truly sorry.”

“It’s okay, you can take care of paperwork.”

“Sure.” Torao nodded and headed to his desk. His eyes widened in fear when he discovered the huge pile of documents lined up on both sides of his computer.

“Everyone’s paperwork.” Tenn took a sip from his coffee.

“…roger.” he sighed and started working.

When the others came back from their patrol, Torao apologised to everyone. They all forgave him, mostly because they preferred doing patrol work than paperwork, and sat down on their respective desks. Nagi returned to the laboratory to work on a new invention and Tenn resumed his work as well.

The day passed without any further major incidents. Some calls were answered, meetings were held; the same as always. But Torao couldn’t stop thinking about Minami. He couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing.

“Torao.” Tenn’s voice interrupted his thoughts. His boss was standing behind of him.

“S-sorry, I was spacing out.”

“Nevermind that. I have a mission for you.”

“A mission?” he turned around on his chair.

“I want you to go to where the fire happened yesterday. I know I said we’d let that doctor take care of the victim, but I still want to know if everything’s okay now. So please pay them a visit.”

“Understood.” he stood up.

“And while you’re at it, go on a patrol in the surrounding area too. Just in case. But change out of your uniform before you go.”

“Alright.”

“That is all.” Tenn nodded and returned to his office.

“Well, then let’s---”

“Torao, _wait_!” Nagi appeared out of nowhere and dashed towards him.

“Y-yes!?” he startled.

“Before you go, here.” he stretched out his open hand, a badge with the Burning Rescue logo on top of it.

“What’s this?” he grabbed it.

“A badge.”

“I can see that.”

“With a hidden camera inside.”

“…of course.”

“Tenn wanted me to create something that would let us record everything in case we needed video proof. So, I just tried and made one.” he smiled.

“You _just_ made one? Just like that?” he raised an eyebrow. Nagi nodded. “But won’t this show I’m with Burning Rescue?”

“ _OH!_ You’re right. How _stupid_ of me.” he searched his pockets. “Here! This is your undercover one.”

“Whoa, sweet!” he grabbed the second badge, his eyes sparkling. It had the logo of his favourite superhero.

“So please, use this opportunity as a test-run, _yes?_ ”

“Got it. Thanks.”

“ _No problem!_ ” Nagi winked and showed a thumbs-up.

After that, Torao went upstairs to change into his private clothes to head out. The sun was already setting when he left, and by the time he arrived at the building that had burned the day before, it was already dark outside.

“I hope this camera can record during night-time too.” he said to himself as he got off his bike.

The lights of the house next door were on, so he assumed the doctor with glasses to be home and also hoped to meet Minami inside. But the only ones present were the doctor and the woman, sleeping soundly. Torao was told that she had mostly recovered and just needed some rest. When he asked the doctor where Minami was, he received directions, thanked him and decided to go check on Minami.

Torao followed the directions as best as he could, the streetlamps seemed to be broken, so his only source of light came from his smartphone that he was using like a flashlight. After a while he decided to turn off the light. Buildings on both sides of the street were in ruins due to the earthquake. He knew that construction work from the government would eventually rebuild them, but if another quake came, the result would be the same.

He continued walking and looked skywards on a whim, which made his eyes widen in excitement. Myriads of stars were shining in the sky. Torao could see them all. Not only the moon and the lights of the city, but every little star…

“The starry canopy…” he whispered as he slowly moved his arm upwards as well.

But then he heard a familiar voice. Singing.

Torao turned around a corner and discovered the source of the song: it was Minami, as he had already expected. He could recognize him because there was light. But it didn’t come from any streetlamp or the moon and the stars. It came from the people themselves; the Burnish were shining.

He got one step closer, but he did so unconsciously. As if being pulled towards the light. His mind seemed to have stopped working, otherwise he probably would’ve realized that it wasn’t a good idea to get any closer. But he forgot about his position. About their position. About the fact that he was a member of Burning Rescue and they were Burnish.

He only focused on Minami’s song, yet he didn’t understand what he was singing about. They were words he didn’t understand. Words he couldn’t ever understand, even if he tried. But he understood that the other people around him _did_ understand it.

The other Burnish stopped whatever they had been doing and listened to Minami as well. Torao observed how one of them let out a flame from their hand and how it then continued to spread. From one Burnish to the other, illuminating them all until the street was lit up. And then, Minami started shining even more. The longer the song lasted, the brighter he shone.

Torao wanted to see him from the front; he was sitting on a rubble on the ground and Torao could only see his back. What expression was Minami making, he wondered? Was he smiling? Sad? Angry? Frustrated? Relieved? Not knowing was unbearable, he wanted to sprint towards him and find out. But he continued to stand and watch.

He observed the indescribable scenery that was unfolding in front of him. He wanted to step closer but at the same time he was frozen solid, not able to move a single muscle. He was drawn to the flames but was also wary of them, never had he seen anything like that. Every person was shining with their light, far brighter than any streetlamp ever could. It felt surreal, but he couldn’t stop watching. Couldn’t stop listening to Minami’s song for the Burnish. He was enthralled.

Children started dancing in front of Minami, they were laughing and brought a smile to Torao’s face as well. Even though he didn’t understand what Minami was singing about, he now thought that he could somehow still get the emotions it was conveying. It may have been a song by Burnish for Burnish, but he thought it was something everyone should listen to. Something everyone should experience. Maybe then more people would understand each other better. Maybe that could help better Shotokyo.

As he was thinking about that, he noticed that the song was nearing its end. What a pity, he thought. He wanted to continue listening to Minami sing. The entire night, if possible. Torao thought he could make it through the next day on Minami’s song and looking at the starry sky. Who needed sleep? He started approaching Minami, silently, so he wouldn’t bother his playing until the end.

When he stopped playing, the flames and light fell silent as well. An elder woman approached Minami and gave him a cup.

“Oh dear.” she said as Minami drank from it. Torao was near enough to hear their conversation but he didn’t dare to get closer yet.

“Thank you.” he said and handed the cup back to her. “This was exactly what I needed right now.”

“Oh no.” the woman smiled. “Your song was what all of us needed right now. A cup of water is nothing against the refreshment your song brought us. And after you just collapsed too! Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked. Torao’s eyes widened with that last question? Minami had collapsed? Torao’s excitement over the song died down a bit and was replaced with worry. Why did he collapse? Did the earthquake do more to him too after all? He had so many questions, but no way of getting the answers. We wanted to ask him about it, but…

“Yes, I am.” Minami replied. “I will be up and helping again soon.” he added. Did he collapse from helping too much? After the woman walked away again, Torao readied himself.

He took a deep breath, stepped closer, turned around and sat down on the rubble Minami had been sitting on. Their backs touched and Torao could feel the heat still emanating from Minami’s body.

“Hey.” he said simply.

“Torao-san!” Minami said. He sounded surprised, but why wouldn’t he. After a first shock, Torao could feel the other’s back lean onto his.

“I… heard your song.” he stopped for a moment. “I really liked it. Your singing is really beautiful.”

“So I have been told.” he answered. “Thank you regardless.” he leaned his head against Torao’s shoulder.

“Do you do this often?” he asked. He hesitated for a second, but reciprocated Minami’s action and leaned his head onto the other’s.

But their moment didn’t last.

“We should go.” he said and stood up again. “Torao-san, please follow me.” he quickly slung the guitar case over his shoulder and started walking away from there.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause any more problems. I was looking around and then I saw you and… the others…” he followed close after Minami but looked down. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have come. I didn’t want to make you worry even more.”

“I will not say that it is not your fault, but you did not cause any problems. I doubt most people noticed you, considering how busy they are. Just… act with some consideration for us. The inner ring is a place where only we reside. Outsiders and especially Burning Rescue members are our natural enemy. You will be destroyed and eliminated like we are having an allergic reaction if you get in trouble with the wrong people. Though from their perspective they will be in the right, and if that happens, I will side with them.”

“...I understand.” he nodded. That was everything he could think of as an answer. He knew all that, but being told so directly by someone he cared for still hurt. He knew he could’ve just turned around and walked away again when he saw the Burnish gather around Minami, but he didn’t. Just as he didn’t want to leave him behind now, but he knew that he had to. It would only get worse for Minami and himself. He knew all that, but it was difficult to accept. “I’ll get going then…”

“Tora-, no, Midou-san. I am thankful for the time we got to spend together.” Minami stopped. Torao couldn’t see his expression again. With what kind of face was he saying all that? “Thank you for helping me discover a side of myself that I had yet to know.”

Torao saw how Minami raised an arm to his face. He could envision the expression now.

“...” he held his breath for a moment when he realized what that meant. He started thinking about whether there was an appropriate way to part ways with Minami, but he couldn’t think of any. He wanted to feel Minami’s warmth once more, but he didn’t have the right to. Torao closed his eyes and turned around. “See y---goodbye, Minami.” he said and started walking away.

“Forgive me.” Minami whispered before Torao got out of reach for the other’s voice to be heard anymore.

Torao walked the same way back without stopping in his tracks or looking back even once. When he returned to his bike, he got on silently and drove away.

After he had parked his bike in Burning Rescue’s garage, he entered the common room. Only Nagi and Tenn were still sitting on the couch as they stood up when they saw Torao.

“Torao…” Nagi said. He and Tenn had heard everything that happened earlier.

“I’ll go to my room.” Torao said with a weak voice.

“…understood.” Tenn nodded. He simply watched as Torao slowly walked up the stairs. “Well do---” he interrupted himself. “Rest well.”

Without an answer Torao vanished upstairs.

“Let’s call it a day as well.” Tenn stood up.

“… _yes._ ” Nagi said while looking down.

Torao let himself fall down on his bed without even taking off his clothes. With his face on the pillow he stayed in that position for a while. Not moving nor thinking about anything. After that, he turned around to lay on his back and managed to take off his boots.

“…Minami…”

He thought back to his singing. He recalled the lights and the flames. He could still see them when he closed his eyes. Could feel Minami’s warmth.

“I’m such a fucking idiot.” he said almost inaudibly.

He regretted it. He regretted having walked away earlier without saying anything else to Minami. But he didn’t regret having stopped to listen to him. His thoughts were in disarray. He should regret having listened to Minami’s song, but not regret having walked away. That was how it was supposed to be.

Torao understood that all of his actions had been out of selfishness of wanting to get to know Minami better. And he also understood that all of Minami’s actions were to protect his family. Neither of them did something wrong, so he directed the anger that was welling up inside of him to the only ones that did something wrong: the government.

No one decided to become Burnish. It just happened. It was like a curse, Torao thought. But then he withheld the thought again. Was it really like a curse? Or was he simply pushing his own ideas onto them? He couldn’t know what Burnish thought about being Burnish, because he himself was _not_. And Minami didn’t seem to particularly mind being Burnish. Them being ‘different’ wasn’t the problem, it was the way they were treated and viewed.

“Fuck, my head’s starting to hurt.” he said to himself. He wasn’t one to think about things this much, but he just couldn’t let it go. He didn’t _want_ to let it go, let go of Minami. He turned his head to the side and stared out of his window. Once again, he was back to the starless view. “I promise…” he started talking again.

He grabbed the superhero badge Nagi made, enclosed it in his fist and stretched that arm towards the night sky.

“I promise that if I ever get to see Minami again, I will properly confess to him. And I’m not gonna leave him again.” he breathed slowly. “Even if the entire world is turned to ashes once more.”

In the days that followed, Burning Rescue returned to their daily life. They went on patrols, answered calls of worried citizens. Extinguished a fire or two; the commonplace was back. Tenn and Nagi didn’t talk about that one night with Torao. They knew he had his own way to deal with it and since it seemed that he was doing good, they didn’t pry either.

Though there was one new addition to that everydayness. Tremors kept appearing from time to time. Small but noticeable ones. The majority thought they were aftershocks of the big earthquake and believed they would subside eventually.

A week passed by and the team was sitting at their desks, having a short break. Torao and Nagi were having a heated discussion about the latest aired episode of a currently running show. Iori was trying to explain some files to Touma, though with little success. And Momo was intensely staring at something on his computer screen.

Tenn was leaving his office to get some coffee when it happened again.

The ground trembled, even stronger than the previous big quake.

Everyone held onto things that could fall off tables easily and held their breaths. Everyone but Momo.

“A fricking spaceship!?!” he yelled at his screen. The others turned around and looked at him. “That’s the cause of this earthquake!”

“Momo, what are you even talking about?!” Torao asked.

“It’s a livestream, someone is streaming it!!”

“Streaming what?” Tenn asked.

“Apparently some megalomaniac dude on the other side of the planet is starting a spaceship or something and---ahhh, crap, the connection broke!!” he put his hands to his head.

“I don’t care about the other side of the planet, be ready to head out once this calms down. I have a bad feeli---” but before Tenn could even finish his sentence, multiple alarms and phones started ringing.

“Fuck.” Torao said.

“We cannot leave until the trembling dies down; it would be too dangerous. If something were to happen to our vehicles, then we would not be able to help.” Iori explained.

“I’ll handle the calls; you all go out. I’ll relay the incoming calls to Nagi.”

“ _Roger!_ ” Nagi nodded.

And then the earthquake slowly grew weaker and the ground came to a halt.

“Depart!” Tenn exclaimed and the others jumped up at once.

“Understood!” they said in unison and rushed to the fire truck. Once they were all inside, Touma started the engine and drove out of the garage.

“Nagi.” Tenn said through the microphone from his office. “It seems the majority of the calls have the same source. There’s a big crowd of people gathering on the streets. It seems the earthquake has made them panic. You need to try and calm them down immediately. I’ll send you the coordinates.”

“Understood!” he answered and guided Touma.

“No fires?” Torao asked.

“No.” Tenn replied. “At least not yet.”

“Really? Even though this was an even stronger one?”

“It does seem strange, I agree.”

“The stream won’t reconnect.” Momo mumbled.

“Sunohara-san!” Iori exclaimed.

“What!? Maybe it would help us understand what’s going on. What else am I supposed to do while we wait to get there!? Right now, Touma-chan, Nagi-chan and Tenn-chan are doing their best to get us there safely and quickly, and then it’s our turn to do our job!” he looked oddly determined, but his hands were slightly shaking.

“No worries, we’ll handle. We handled stuff before too, we can do this.” Torao encouraged them and tried to calm them down a bit. If they weren’t calm how would they be able to calm the people?

“You are right. I am sorry.” Iori said and smiled. “Let us do our best.”

“Iori-chan!” Momo threw his hands around Iori.

“P-please do not hug me!”

“Hee…” Tenn’s voice resounded again.

“What?” Torao asked.

“Spoken like a true leader. If I ever retire, I know who can take my place.”

“Wait, wha---”

“We’re here!” Nagi said.

“I’ll open the door!” Touma exclaimed and the backdoor of the truck opened, revealing a sea of people. After a short moment of awe, Torao shook his head and got down to business.

“Momo, Iori, Touma! Try to keep everyone in check. Try to calm them down, talk to them. There are no fires to worry about!”

“Roger!” the three said.

“Nagi! Stay inside and back us up! Keep observing the surrounding area.”

“ _Roger!_ ” he said.

“And you?” Tenn asked.

“I have a plan.” Torao said, grabbed a megaphone that was inside the fire truck and climbed onto it.

“Torao-chan!?”

“Don’t worry, trust me!” he got on top of it. He turned on the megaphone, put it to his mouth and…

All of the surrounding area burst up in flames.

“…shit.”

Torao stood there and observed how the fire engulfed everything that it touched. He lowered his arm again, not knowing what he was supposed to say. Everything was burning.

“Torao!” Tenn’s voice resounded. “Torao, can you hear me?”

“Boss…” he managed to say.

“What is happening?”

“It’s burning…”

“What is!?”

“…”

“Torao!”

“…everything is.” he looked around once more, just to be sure. But the scenery didn’t change. Fire as far as he could see. The buildings were burning, the street was burning, the people were burning… wait, the people were burning?

Only then he realized it. Even though the people were burning, running and yelling and crying among the sea of flames; they weren’t _burning_. Torao didn’t understand what was going on. Did this have anything to do with that spaceship? With what Minami had told him? And then he started worrying about Minami again. What was he doing right now? Was he safe? Was he---

“Midou-san!”

“Minami?” he turned to where he thought he heard his name being called.

“ _Torao_ -san!”

“...” his eyes searched the crowd and he finally discovered him. “Minami!” he almost stepped forward but remembered where he was standing.

Torao saw Minami struggling to get closer to the truck. He had to fight against the current of people and flames. Torao wished he could help him in any way, but jumping down wasn’t a good idea. Wait, if going down is bad, then he can just come up, he thought to himself and crouched down on the truck. He secured himself to the truck with one hand and stretched out the other, down into the crowd.

“Grab my hand!” he yelled.

Minami was getting closer, almost fighting through the mass of people that were hindering him from advancing. Torao saw Minami stretch out his hand as well, but he couldn’t reach it yet.

“Come on, Torao!!” he clenched his teeth and stretched out his arm as far as he possibly could and finally managed to catch the other’s hand. He pulled him up with all of his might, out of the crowd and onto the truck.

“Torao-san…” Minami panted. “You need to… to tell them--”

Torao interrupted him with a hug and dragged him closer. He didn’t want to let go of him again, but Minami struggled himself free.

“Midou-san, now is not the best time for this.” Minami said.

“S-sorry… you were saying?”

“You need to tell them to calm down.” he said. “They are burning, yes; but these flames are kind. They are gentle, and cool. They will not hurt, and they will not kill. They physically cannot hurt them; it is the opposite. The flames are protecting everyone.”

“Wait, what!?” he asked. “Protecting? I mean, I guess nothing is happening to me and I’m kinda burning too but…”

“Please believe me.” Minami implored Torao. “The quakes… I believe this is the final one. This is what everything led up to, the Burnish, humanity, the fire… something is happening right now. And the fire is protecting everything from whatever is happening right now. Nobody will be hurt, if they do not stomp each other to death in crowds. You need to stop them.”

“Alright. I believe you.” he nodded and grabbed the megaphone he had put down. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath before screaming into it. “Listen!!” he yelled as loudly as he could, which was then further amplified by the megaphone. It looked like some of the people had heard him.

“Everyone, please calm down! The fire will not hurt you! Look around you, look at yourself, everything will be fine! Please, everyone calm down!” he repeated the same message, hoping more people would listen with each time and hopefully tell others as well.

More and more people stopped running and pushing in panic. Iori, Momo and Touma repeated after Torao. They didn’t know what exactly it meant or why he was saying it, but they trusted him to make the right decisions. The crowd seemed to calm down as well and before they knew it, the flames had disappeared.

“Oh.” Minami suddenly whispered to himself.

“Minami?” Torao turned to the side and put the megaphone down. Now that he deemed the situation to have calmed down enough, his entire attention was back on Minami.

“It’s gone.” Minami said slowly. “The fire is… it’s gone.”

“Yes, it vanished a moment ag---”

“Not that, Midou-san.” he shook his head. “ _My_ fire is gone.”

“ _Your_ fire!?” Torao was surprised. “You mean like… You can’t any longer… feel it?” he tried to think of fitting words, as he had no way of knowing what it actually meant. Torao understood that he couldn’t do anything for Minami right now. It was painfully obvious that something had changed for him. Something _inside_ of him. Torao wanted to help, he didn’t want to watch Minami, or anyone else, suffer anymore.

“Gone…” Minami repeated.

“...Minami.” he wanted to hug him once more, as if to protect him from whatever was happening at the moment, but before he could, his earpiece brought him back to reality.

“Torao!” Tenn’s voice resounded and made Torao startle.

“Y-yes?”

“Iori told me the people are calming down, but some of them seem to be incredibly weakened.” he explained. Torao looked at the crowd below of him and noticed it as well. While the majority seemed to have calmed down, some people appeared to him the same as Minami.

“...their fire is gone.” Torao repeated Minami’s words.

“What?” Tenn asked.

“I think… the fire of the Burnish is just… gone.” he repeated, unable to process its meaning. At the same time, Minami seemed to be looking for something or some _one_ in the crowd below.

“Fire killed with fire, huh…” Minami said quietly.

“...boss, what should we do?” he asked finally.

“...” Torao heard Tenn breathe. “I’ll call some ambulances. We don’t know what just happened but it’s better than nothing. Iori, Touma, Momo: help the Bur---help the people that look weakened, get them out of the crowd. Torao?”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you to do the same?”

“...sure.” Torao replied. He took a deep breath and turned back to Minami. “Shall we get off the truck, Minami?”

“Alright.” Minami followed Torao’s lead as they got down to the ground again. “Midou-san… I believe it is time to part ways again.”

“Yeah.” he nodded. “See ya.” he smiled and walked towards Iori and the others.

“Torao-chan!” Momo approached him, followed by Iori and Touma.

“Midou-san, are you okay?” Iori asked.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m good.”

“How did you know that the fire wouldn’t hurt anyone?” Momo asked confused.

“I’ll tell you later. Is everything okay now?”

“Things are under control for now.” Touma explained. “Nagi is calling for back-up too.”

“I see.” Torao nodded. “Well done, everyone.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth.” Tenn said. “Good job, team.”

“What are you doing?” Torao asked as he walked down the stairs. He had changed into more comfortable clothes because he was planning to go eat out for his lunch break.

“Watching TV.” Momo answered.

“The leader of that new party, the one established by former Burnish, is about to hold a speech.” Tenn explained, sitting next to Momo, a cup of coffee in his hands.

“Ohh, nice.” Torao smiled.

Things were changing.

The Second Great World Burn (as Torao called it) that happened about a month and a half ago didn’t burn down the world again, yet it definitely left its system in ashes. Burnish were no more. The one thing that separated them from non-Burnish was gone, completely vanished all around the planet. It seemed the incident on the other side of the world played a big role in it, but not much information reached Shotokyo; they were concerned with other things.

Former Burnish voices were able to speak up louder now, to represent their own views and opinions. Even though the fire that kept them apart from the others had vanished, the bonds they had formed during their lives so far left them with a sense of unity. It wasn’t as if a new community had risen from the ashes of the past. They had been reborn. At least that was Torao’s interpretation.

The laws and rules that applied to Burnish and had limited and aggravated their lives and work were now called the Burnish Discrimination Laws. The leader of that new party had already made negotiations so that those laws wouldn’t apply to former Burnish anymore. Their next goals included proper insurances for former Burnish and a complete overhaul of the inner ring, which would then become a new district in Shotokyo.

Voices among non-Burnish people who had already been against the government’s unfair treatment of Burnish were given more attention now as well. Even smaller groups of people that were against Burnish before were trying to stand up for them now; individuals even trying to help out former Burnish in their vicinities. Humanity always feared the unknown. But it seemed that now that the fire had vanished, their innate aversion against ‘the other’ was slowly dying down as well.

Things were changing. Slowly but surely.

“Are you heading out for lunch, Torao-chan?” Momo asked.

“Yup, it’s been a while. And the weather’s nice, so I just wanna take a ride as well.”

“Sounds good!”

“Make sure to be back on time.” Tenn said.

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Rokuya-san! Please do not walk away while I am talking to you!” Iori’s voice could be heard in the distance.

“But I can’t work in the _lab_ right now. I need _inspiration_.” Nagi answered, his voice coming closer. The two were approaching the couch. Nagi sat down next to Momo and started tinkering.

“Why do you need inspiration!? I only asked you to inspect my weapon because I had some issues with it the other day!” Iori crossed his arms.

“ _Yes_ , so it would be best to add a new extra, so it won’t happen anymore.”

“I do not need extras. It worked perfectly before!”

“See, past tense.”

“Rokuya-san!!”

“I made coffee!” Touma suddenly exclaimed, carrying a tray with cups. He left the kitchen and walked to the couch, putting the tray down on the table.

“ _Thanks_.” Nagi grabbed a cup.

“Wow Touma, without spilling anything.” Tenn said.

“Hehe…” Touma grinned.

“You deserve a pay rise.”

“R-reall---”

“No.”

“Ahaha!” Momo started laughing. “Don’t mind, Touma-chan! We’ve all had to go through this.”

“…a-aye.” he sighed and sat down on the other couch. Tenn chuckled and took another sip from his own cup.

“You guys seem to be having fun even without me, so I’ll get going now.” Torao laughed and started walking away.

“Bye, Tora!” Touma said.

“Have fun!” Momo added.

“Torao, can you _please_ bring me the new issue of---”

“Buy it yourself, Nagi.” he said without looking back.

“Grr…” Nagi glared at him. Torao couldn’t see it but he could imagine Nagi’s expression and started laughing before he left for the garage.

“Oh, oh, it’s about to start!!” Momo said excitedly and turned up the TV’s volume.

“Hah.” Iori sighed and sat down next to Touma. “I am surrounded by idiots.”

“By the way, Iori?” Tenn asked.

“Yes?”

“I thought you had the day off today. Why are you still here?”

“E-excuse me? I can decide what to do on my free time, can I not?” he startled.

“Oh, of course you can.” Tenn sipped. “But didn’t you wanna meet with your new old friends today and help them with something?”

“…” Iori blushed. “…h-how do you know about that… Kujou-san?”

“It’s not my fault that you didn’t turn off your microphone last week during your mission.”

“I _did_ turn it off!”

“Hee, did you really?”

“Kujou-san!!”

“Pssht he’s started talking!!” Momo exclaimed.

“Why are you even so excited for this?” Touma asked.

“Excuse you?!” Momo jumped up. “Have you _looked_ at him? That pretty, long silver hair? That face? Those earrings!? That authority!?!” he has stepped closer to the TV to point at the things he mentioned. “He’s an ikemen!!”

“Ohh, I see!” Touma nodded while Iori only sighed.

“Hmm, so that’s your type, yes?” Tenn mentioned. “I prefer the tall and handsome bodyguard to his right.” he tilted his head to the side. “Though he looks like a moron.”

“Wait, what!?” Momo was surprised. “For real?”

“Sip.” he drank his coffee.

“Tenn-channnn!!” he repeated.

“Speaking of which, the other bodyguard is rather short. But he looks very confident.” Iori chuckled. “How cute.”

A sudden dull sound made them all startle. Nagi had let go of Iori’s gun and it was now lying on the floor. He hadn’t been paying attention to the TV screen before and had only looked up on a whim. When he did, his eyes widened, and some tears filled the corner of his eyes.

“…Mitsuki.”

Torao was driving through the streets of Shotokyo. He was feeling like shawarma for lunch, so he knew exactly where he had to go. He got off his bike and took off his helmet. The sun was shining, and the streets were busy with people going about their daily lives. And then after walking for a while, the sound of a guitar in the distance caught his attention.

“...” Torao’s eyes widened and started running. He followed the melody, hoping ardently for the player to be a certain person he hadn’t seen again since the Second Great World Burn. He got closer and closer and finally turned the last corner to discover a familiar figure playing the guitar in front of the fountain.

A smile appeared on Torao’s face as he stepped closer and positioned himself in front of the musician, waiting for his song to come to an end. Minami ended the song and looked up.

“Midou-san.” he said. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“I liked it better when you called me by my first name, actually.” he replied.

“Alright, Torao-san.” he smiled. “What a pleasant surprise.”

He took a step back and leaned his guitar on the brick-built fountain wall. Then he hoisted himself up and sat down. Minami head tilted his head to the side as if waiting for Torao to do something.

Torao tried his best to remain calm. Were Minami’s actions always that cute? He accepted the invitation and sat down next to him.

“So… how you doing?” he asked.

“I am managing.” Minami said. “We all are. Things are getting better slowly. We might be able to move into a new place in a few weeks. Tamaki and Haruka will receive their high school education and I am hoping to send them to university. And I am singing, as always. Less songs of course. Half of me has turned silent.” he shook his head. “What about you?” he asked. “Has your little task force become obsolete?”

“Well…” he crossed his arms. “Not necessarily? Sure, we’re getting less deployments due to random fires, but you know. People still need help and if they call, we’ll answer!” he grinned.

“That is good to hear.” he said.

“Yup. But more importantly…” he turned to him, suddenly a more serious expression on his face. “Minami?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“I love you, please go out with me.” he just said straightforwardly. Nothing added. Just that. He stared intensely into Minami’s eyes.

“...Torao-san, I--” Minami evaded Torao’s look. He looked at his fingers, clearly not wanting to face the other at the moment.

“Minami!” he said and grabbed the other’s hands, bringing them in between the two so Minami couldn’t look away. “And if you say no… I’m gonna have to leave the path of the hero and become a villain that steals you away.”

“Torao-san.” Minami said and looked him directly into the eyes. “Are you serious right now? Because I hope you do not mean that line. To be perfectly honest, it made me feel a bit queasy. I believe I can taste some bile in my mouth.”

“R-really!?” he turned away, still holding Minami’s hands though. “Damn, Momo said it would work for sure.” he mumbled to himself.

“Well, apparently your Momo-san was incorrect.” Minami said. “Though, Midou-san?”

“Y-yeah?”

“What would you have done had I actually said no? How would your path of a villain have looked like?” Minami seemed to be holding in some laughter.

“I… didn’t think that far. But I’m sure I would’ve come up with something!” he nodded vigorously. “As long as it meant I could stay at your side.” he was serious. “Wait a sec, so what is it now?”

“While I would not yet speak of feelings as strong as ‘love’ yet, I do tremendously enjoy your company.” he said and squeezed Torao's hands. “I like you, Torao-san. So, yes, I would like to go out with you. Just spare us both the embarrassment and refrain from such lines in the future, will you?”

“...” Torao’s eyes widened with Minami’s response. “Yes!” he nodded. “I promi---I’ll do my best!”

“Well, Torao-san.” Minami stood up, grabbed his guitar and threw a wink into Torao’s direction. “As my new boyfriend, how about you can wish for a song?”

“Really? Cool.” he stood up as well and stepped in front of him. “Then…” a short pause. “...how about the song you played that night?”

“That song, huh…” he mumbled. “I am afraid I cannot play it anymore.”

“You can’t? Why not?”

“It was a Burnish song. It came from within me, where the fire resided. It prompted melody and lyrics, and I sang according to it as my conductor. Now that it is gone…”

“Oh, I see…” he looked down. How unfortunate, he thought. He really would’ve loved to listen to that song again. And for others to hear it as well.

“I loved those songs.” Minami said. “I am sure that I could replicate some of it from memory, but the immediate magic of it is gone forever. If only I could have recorded it somehow…”

Torao agreed, if only it would’ve been recorded. If only he could replay the scene from that night.

“...wait.” and then he realized. “Wait! Minami!” he grabbed him by the shoulders as he held onto his guitar.

“Yes? What is it now?”

“Heh.” he grinned. “What if I told you that your performance that night was indeed recorded?”

“I can’t believe they’re coming here today!!” Momo was walking in circles.

“Sunohara-san, would you please calm down? You are making me nervous as well.” Iori sighed.

“But Iori-chan!” he turned to him. “That hot leader is coming _here_! Today!!”

“It does feel weird, that someone as important as him would come here.” Touma said.

“It seems they think of us as equally important.” Tenn explained. “Orikasa-san apparently heard about us being slightly different than the other units. And well, considering his background I assume he’s way more down to earth. And probably not yet as important as you think, Touma. He still has a long way to go, but I’m looking forward to it.”

“But he’s so hot!” Momo repeated.

“Momo. I dare you to watch what you say when they’re here.”

“…I’ll do my best!” he took a deep breath and sat down at his desk.

“Touma, could you please ready some coffee?” Tenn asked.

“Sure!” he stood up and walked into the kitchen.

At the same time, Torao was getting dressed in his room. Despite the visit they were receiving, he already had another appointment. He was wearing black pants and a white dress shirt. He grabbed the fly and started tying it.

“Wait, is this too much?” he asked himself and looked into the mirror. “…yeah.” he untied it again and threw it onto his bed. “It’s also quite warm today…” he continued and opened the upmost button. “Better.” he grinned. He grabbed the jacket that was hanging from his door and swung it over his back. He left his room and walked down the stairs.

“Phew!” Momo whistled when he saw Torao. “Fancy!”

“Heh, thanks.” Torao laughed and approached his desk. He had left a bag on top of it. “Can’t forget this.”

“What’s that?” Momo asked.

“A small present. You normally bring something if you’re invited somewhere, right?”

“What’s inside?” Nagi asked, but instead of answering him, he just held out the bag and let him look inside. “An empty flower pot?”

“It’s not empty.” Torao corrected him. “There are seeds in the soil. You just gotta fill that whole thing with water and it’ll grow eventually. Or so I was told in the flower shop.”

“Hee, what kind of flower is it?” Tenn asked curiously.

“Uhh, what was it again…” he started thinking. “Ah right, a lotus.”

“Oh?”

“What?”

“Why did you choose that one?”

“I wanted something special and the guy at the shop said these were quite special. Also, a flower that grows out of the water sounds super cool, doesn’t it?” he grinned.

“That’s the reason?”

“Yeah!” he nodded. “Oh, also the colour reminded me of Minami!”

“…sorry, it was my mistake for asking.”

“Huh?” Torao was confused. He looked at the clock on the wall and noticed the time. “Crap, I can’t be late for this or Minami will be angry.” he approached the entrance with quick steps and opened the door. He was about to head and almost ran into someone in a black suit. “Oh, sorry!”

“Fufu, don’t mention it.” the man said and let Torao pass. The suited man was followed by two others as they entered. “Hello.”

“Welcome, Orikasa-san.” Tenn approached his visitor. “We’re pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“My, the pleasure is all mine. I hope you don’t mind that I brought my bodyguards with me?”

“Not at all.” Tenn smiled. “Let us head to my office.”

“Understood.” he nodded. “Gaku. Mitsuki. Please wait here, okay?”

“Roger.” the two bodyguards said. Tenn led his guest to the office.

“Do you want some _coffee_?” Nagi approached the bodyguards and smiled.

“Nagi!?!” the shorter one exclaimed in surprise and drew everyone’s attention.

“ _Yes._ ”

Torao was walking with a somewhat faster pace than usually. The place to meet-up wasn’t that far away, so he didn’t need to take his bike. He also didn’t want to run and risk his hair getting tousled again after having put so much time into it.

He had been surprised when Minami suddenly invited him, wanting to introduce him to someone. Torao had been nervous all week, wondering who that someone might be. The closer he got the more nervous he grew. But he was also incredibly happy, he felt like their relationship was moving ahead and nothing could make him happier than that.

Torao turned the last corner and saw Minami standing there in the distance, waiting for him. His nervousness burned away in an instant, seeing Minami calmed him down and he could relax. He took a deep breath, smiled and stepped forward.

“Let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Working on this together with [Kai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/einsKai/pseuds/einsKai) was incredibly fun. It took a lot of time and effort, but it was definitely worth it. Please do check out the [other side](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579509) of the story too, in case you've read this one first.
> 
> Hashtag funfact: characters not appearing in the story obviously have a place in the world too. Sougo's a TA at a new school, Riku works with the firefighters too, but in an administrative department somewhere else and Ryu is a newscaster, doing his best.
> 
> Lovely artwork by Elif, check out her [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/elif.doodles/) for more amazing art!
> 
> Minami's song by Kai, complete song can be found in Minami-hen!
> 
> Thanks again, if you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a comment with your impressions, I'd love to read them!


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